The Argeneau Vampires rule the world – well, not literally, but they are top players in all forms of modern industry – particularly blood banks.
In Lynsay Sand’s ever expanding world (this is book 25), the Argeneau family is governed by Lucian Argeneau who represents them on a council of immortals – nano engineered ‘vampires’ who are refugees from Atlantis – who need blood to stay at peak fitness level.
There are certain rules the immortals have to follow. To control population they are only allowed to turn one human in their long lives, this person normally being their life mate. They also survive on bagged blood, and eating ‘on the hoof’ or from the tap as it were, is only permitted in emergencies. The immortals can read and control others’ minds, unless drugged, but the single person they can’t hear is their future life mate.
During the last few books, immortals have been mysteriously disappearing. It was at the end of the last big where we had the big reveal – the name of the villain. So – SPOILERS HERE …
No surprise once you start reading – it’s Dr Dressler.
Dressler has invited celebrated chef Domitian to work for him on his island. Domitian is convinced his identity as an immortal is secure, so when a helicopter arrives he climbs on board but is immediately drugged.
Back on the island, police officer Sarita, is growing impatient waiting for a helicopter to take her to the mainland to see her grandmother who has had a fall.
Finally having enough, she storms into Dressler’s lab to find him, but finds a body cut in two instead: the torso strapped down on one small table, the legs strapped to another.
Dressler and his assistant walk in, use Sarita to help put the pieces of the tables back together, like a demented magician, pouring blood on the corpse until the pieces stitch back together to form a screaming, writhing man.
Two seconds later she’s drugged, unconscious, then waking up in the weirdest, white honeymoon paradise lodge stuck in the middle of the jungle island.
She’s alone.
But she won’t be for long.
In this, the 25th Argeneau novel, Sands again delivers a fun blend of romance, sexual chemistry, adventure, danger and humour.
Where it switches up though, is in the inhabitants of this mysterious island where Sarita finds herself imprisoned. Problem is, I just can’t tell you more! Because the surprise in store is worth it. Whole new story arcs will emerge I think, n the back of this book, and the end has another cliffhanger to potentially lead to more avenues.
I loved this book, and can’t wait to read the next one.
5/5

Falling for a man is acceptable, expected even, but falling literally head over heels stumbling all over the place? Well, that’s taking it just a bit too far.
In the tenth instalment of the Argeneau Vampire series, we’ve entered a new story arc following Vampire Interrupted, and Bricker, Decker and Mortimer are on the hunt for a rogue vampire, himself hunting in a lakeside cottage area near Toronto.
Decker has had his cottage home in the area for years and thankfully, has managed to avoid any nosey neighbours. At least until the Willian sisters come to stay for a vacation.
Sam Willan is a workaholic lawyer, lately single from her high school sweetheart, but currently plagued by a recurring ear infection (suspected) that has her dizzy, losing her balance and toppling all over the place. She has reluctantly agreed to see a specialist on her return home, egged on by chef sister Alex and bar manager/university attendee sister Jo.
Of course she would start falling over in front of Mortimer, who’s staying with Bricker at Decker’s cottage, as they hunt for the rogue, who is bleeding humans dry. He at first suspects her falling about is drunkenness and isn’t suitably impressed, particularly as he can’t hear her thoughts, a sign she may be his true life mate. And she’s really not his type; too skinny, too pale. Needs a good meal.
His two Hunter friends watch as Mortimer begrudgingly finds himself feeling protective towards her as they use the trio of sisters to attend a popular lakeside night spot to find the rogue. Whilst on the hunt for the rogue, Mortimer finds himself falling heavily for Sam, whilst she is drawn to him, but harassed by her boss as the daughter of of one of their clients is missing and Sam is tasked with forcing the local sheriff into action.
It’s no surprise that the pair end up getting closer, but fate seems to get in their way in the most awkward of ways when it comes to getting intimate; cue insects, rashes, bumbling about and other disasters I won’t spoil for you.
It’s everything you expect from Sands; romance, action, great characters, witty humour and either a HEA or HFN.
In this case it’s HFN, but with the proviso that we will meet Sam and Mortimer again and see their story complete.
4/5

At the end of Argeneau vampires book 23, ‘Runaway Vampire’, Dante Notte is ecstatic to have found a life mate who loves him, but is incredibly worried about his kidnapped brother Tomasso.
In the previous book, both twins were abducted by a mysterious group, apparently led by Dr Dressler, who is performing experiments on immortals (vampires) for some unknown reason. After Dante’s mate Mary remembers the name Dressler, and a connection to Venezuela has already been made, Dante, Mary and head of the Argeneau family Lucian, hop a plane intent on tracking down the missing vamps and the culprits behind it all.
In the meantime, Abigail (Abs) Forsythe is having a tough time; having given up medical school to care for her mom, (she has recently lost her to cancer), managing to clear the medical bills, but eating into her college fund to do it. All she has to her name is $200 and a best friend named Jet. Part girlfriend/part brother, Jet (or Jethro) is a lifetime pal who offers her the chance of adventure. A plane trip carrying ‘cargo’ to Venezuela. At a loss, feeling miserable, overweight and full of low self esteem, Abigail agrees. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Ah, yes, that would be two shady looking men joining the flight and Abigail having to hide in the dark, in the cargo hold. With a naked man. In a cage. Who turns out to be a sexy Italian vampire from the Argeneau group.
Tomasso Notte is Dante’s kidnapped brother from Argeneau book #23 and I’ve been very much looking forward to his story, having encountered him in other books in this enjoyable series.
When Abigail sees him in trouble, she can’t resist helping, taking out the IV of drugs keeping him unconscious and rescuing him. Of course, trapped on a plane and meeting Abigail, Tomasso’s instincts tell him to grab Abigail, his potential life mate who he can’t read, and jump out of a flying plane!
So, like a bad episode of ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’, Tomasso and Abigail land in a Caribbean jungle and bond as they fight their way to civilisation. The chemistry and humour, as always, is spot on. But what I particularly like about this book, is Abigail’s (and possibly Sand’s) attitude to weight and ‘skinny’ vs ‘fat’ women.
It is clear Abigail is no supermodel; but she is curvy, sexy and all you would want to be, and even after her experiences in the jungle, she remains curvy. As Abigail notes later on in the novel, about two thirds in; ‘Models were not a healthy weight. If a person had to starve themselves or throw up to get the desired weight, it probably wasn’t a healthy weight to be, since this could kind other problems later like pain or heartburn so they end up needing medicines for this from sites like https://healthyusa.co/pure-digest-10-review/.’ And ‘models were a terrible role model for young girls, and they just made healthy women feel fat.’
Way hey! Well said. I applaud these sentiments. Such thoughts make Abigail a real, believable woman.
As usual, we have a mix of adventure, intrigue and romance. Jet, the brother-figure, remains a solid character throughout the book, and I really hope we get his story later on. He deserves a life-mate. We also get to see two of my faces again; Lucian and Bricker.
After the group are reunited, they face challenges ahead. The story behind the kidnap pigs and Dressler is set to continue.
4/5

Recently widowed Mary Winslow (62 years old) is driving her RV down back roads at night, with her dog Bailey for company, when she hits something, or someone in the road. But when she gets out to investigate, there’s nothing in the road. Oblivious to the extra passenger hidden in her RV, Mary continues on her journey.
In the meantime, her secret passenger, Dante Notte, (vampire) is in pretty bad shape, mangled in fact, having been run over by the RV in his attempt to flee his pursuers. So now, he’s lying half in the bedroom, half in the bathroom, bloody and bashed, unable to move or call for help. He attempts to enter Mary’s mind to control her and get help, but he’s far too weak.
When Mary finally pulls the RV over, on a mission to find a pay phone and call the police to tell them she may have run something over, she gives in to Bailey’s whimpers, opening her bedroom door to let the dog jump up and sleep on the bed. But as Mary turns on the light, that isn’t what she sees.
Instead of curling up on her bunk, her dog is busy licking blood off the naked man sprawled on the floor; and it’s a sight for sore eyes.
After feeding on the locals at a truck stop diner, Dante is mostly healed, but still distractingly naked, as he sets off in the RV taking Mary with him (for her own safety). He explains that he and his twin brother were kidnapped, and while Dante had escaped only to be run over by Mary, his brother Tomasso is still held prisoner. The brothers, he explains, are part of a task force investing the disappearance of young men and women in the San Antonio area. To Mary, this translates as “Oh God, I’ve run over a Fed.”
At this stage, Mary has no clue that Dante is a vampire, and a member of the Argeneau family either, one of the strongest vampire families in the world. And though she may be a withered, old 62 (in her opinion) she’s still aware of Dante looking at her in a certain way and can’t figure out why. But for Dante, the reason is obvious; Mary is his life mate.
What I really like about these characters and this burgeoning relationship, is that whilst Mary underrates herself, as unfortunately most women tend to do, Dante sees her as we, the reader see her; young at her core, passionate, curvaceous, intelligent and brave. As well as beautiful.
The romance is handled perfectly and believably.
Dear Reader, yes, it is possible to have feelings about another person and/or sex past the age of fifty! They way Dante describes Mary is wonderful – when she worries about him finding her attractive ‘at her age’ he responds “The scars and marks left by time, show that you have lived life.”
As always, Sands has an excellent sense of humour, particularly with some of the love making scenes. I won’t spoil all your fun, but I do have to mention the condom scene. That is all!
Between the sex, the lighthearted narrative, the intrigue and emotional aspects of the book, this is another hit from the Argeneau vampire series.
Twenty three and still going strong!
4/5

It’s no fun being a vampire. At least for ‘Elvi’ Ellen Stone Black aged 62. Waking from a car accident in Mexico Elvi (short for Elvira) finds herself in a hotel with her teeth buried in best friend Mabel’s neck.
With no idea how she got there, and no idea why she’s a vampire, she returns to her hometown Port Henry, now a glamorous looking, apparent 25-year old.
Thankfully the town accepts her readily, eager to get to know their new celebrity vampire, apart from the local priest that is. So now she has to follow the rules; avoid garlic and crosses, sleep during the day and keep out of the sunlight, not eat food, drink blood, wear black gowns and sleep in a coffin. But it’s all such a bother. And the fact that lots of her elderly friends are dying doesn’t help. Mabel and other close friend Teddy Brunswick are well aware of this issue, so think it’s a great idea to put an ad in the singles column for a male vampire for Elvi, without telling her.
Mabel vets the applicants, choosing six ‘vampires’ to visit the town and stay over at Elvi and Mabel’s B&B for a week.
Six soon becomes four as a sad wannabe and a wannabe vampire hunter are revealed.
So, who’s left?
First off is Victor Argeneau, council enforcer and DJ Benoit his cohort and driver. But they’re not searching for love or life mates. They’re trying to find out what sort of idiot would put an ad in a singles mag. So Victor is horrified when it’s revealed not only is Elvi biting mortals (at the Birthday Bite bash) but the whole town knows about vampires. Both circumstances are against the rules and its Victor’s job to bring Elvi to the council for justice. It’s a damn shame then that he feels instantly attracted to her.
And that is where the fun begins. Posing as a potential suitor, Victor joins the genuine suitors, pompous Brit Edward, flirty Italian Alessandro and charming German Harper at the B&B for a week to get to know Elvi.
It’s a learning curve for Elvi too, who discovers she can eat and drink, and can sleep in a bed. The bit where she desperately drags her male harem to the local supermarket on a “cheesecake emergency’ is priceless and hilarious. Whilst Sands is normally witty, this is the funniest book I have read in the series so far, especially the bed buying scene and DJ’s treatment of Mabel and her very grouchy reaction to him. Structurally it is also one of the strongest in the series.
Definitely a read in a day page turner. Class stuff.